The 20 Best Disney Animated Feature Films

Eighty-five years ago this week, on May 15, 1928, Mickey Mouse made his animated debut in the short “Plane Crazy,” the little-seen film that isn’t quite as popular as the first distributed Disney film, “Steamboat Willie.” While Mickey Mouse became the face of the Disney empire, he didn’t make it into many of the studio’s feature films. But his success and popularity made his creator Walt Disney a household name, and he paved the way for the great animated films for which Disney’s studio became known. To celebrate this anniversary, we took on the massive task of ranking Walt Disney Pictures’ 20 greatest animated features.

Disney’s animators returned to their roots, using watercolor backgrounds as featured in early films Snow White and Dumbo. They achieved a classic look that was paired by a modern story and design. (Plus, Stitch is adorable!)

This canine romance is probably best known for its Orientalist portrayal of the Siamese cats (Si and Am, naturally) voiced by Peggy Lee, but there’s also that monumentally famous spaghetti kiss scene. (We all know how much dogs love pasta.)

It might not be the most exciting film (it’s cinematic Ambien for children under 12), but Fantasia‘s animated musical staging was groundbreaking and inspired Disney animators for decades following its release.

Most people first encounter Lewis Carroll’s story by seeing this little mind-fuck of a movie, and the elements of psychedelia (and, naturally, its popularity within drug culture) gave this film some staying power.

It’s hard to ignore how important this picture is. As the first feature-length animated film, it paved the way for pretty much everything we see today. And, like Cinderella, this has become the definitive version of the Snow White tale.

Perhaps the most ambitious of Disney’s films, The Lion King presents an original story (albeit one inspired by the Biblical tales of Moses and Joseph, as well as Hamlet and Macbeth) and perfectly balances the serious and comedic tones. With the successful stage adaptation directed by Julie Taymor, The Lion King may be the most enduring film in Disney’s catalog.

Beauty and the Beast single-handedly changed the animation game, combining traditional animation techniques with CGI technology, and was the first animated film in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Not only did its writers take a more modern stance when crafting its characters, but the film incorporated elements of musical theater to reinvigorate the movie-musical genre.